Florida Huddle In Lauderdale

TOM STIEGHORST TOURISM

About 800 Florida travel suppliers and travel buyers are converging in Fort Lauderdale for the Florida Huddle, an annual trade show held this year at the Broward County Convention Center.

Attendees, who were treated to a viewing of the King Tut exhibit at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art on Sunday, get down to business today with meet-and-greet sessions, business card exchanges and an evening reception at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.

The three-day event, produced by Jacksonville-based Huddle International, is a showcase for the host city. Tours have been arranged of Sawgrass Mills and Billie Swamp Safari, among other destinations.

Five area hotels are splitting the lodging business generated by the show, including the Embassy Suites, Marina Marriott, Pier 66, Renaissance, and Yankee Clipper hotels.

"Florida Huddle is yet another prestigious event in which greater Fort Lauderdale is representing Florida to visiting travel influencers from around the world," visitors bureau President Nicki Grossman said.

Last year, the Huddle was conducted in Daytona Beach.

The Crowne Plaza West Palm Beach reopened earlier this month, after being shuttered for 15 months following the 2004 hurricane season.

Owner Lodgian Corp., of Atlanta, used the down time to add flat screen TVs, microwave ovens, refrigerators and CD players to the hotel's 219 rooms. It also put in a package of sleep promotion features, including deluxe bedding, ultra-quiet floors and relaxation amenities.

"This was a complete makeover of every aspect of the hotel from the concrete up," Lodgian President Ed Rohling said in a statement.

Also new to the Crowne Plaza: The Beanery, a new coffee shop and Internet cafM-i.

Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne severely damaged the Crowne Plaza, which also had a fire that crippled its electrical system. Rohling said the hotel was strengthened in rebuilding.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has scheduled a conference call Thursday at 10 a.m. to discuss the company's fourth-quarter financial results. The call can be monitored at the company's investor relations Web site, www.rclinvestor.com.

Analysts expect a loss of about 25 cents a share. Last year, Royal Caribbean lost 13 cents a share in the quarter ending Dec. 31.

AirTran Airways announced plans last week to provide nonstop flights between West Palm Beach and Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. The route has been targeted by several services that sell tickets on private business jets.

Orlando-based AirTran said it will use its standard 117-passenger Boeing 717 planes. It has not announced when flights will begin or what they will cost.

The Southeast Florida chapter of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International will have a reception Feb. 15 at Parrot Jungle Island in Miami starting at 6 p.m. Rick Garced, president of the U.S. Sommelier Association, will talk about the fundamentals of wine. For more information, call 954-390-7335 or e-mail assnmgmt@bellsouth.net.

Passenger traffic at Palm Beach International Airport rose 2.2 percent in December and 7.3 percent for all of 2005. The airport handled just over 7 million people last year, up from 6.5 million in 2004. Delta's market share of 23.3 percent was challenged in December by JetBlue (18.7 percent), Continental (13.8 percent), US Airways (12.8 percent) and Southwest Airlines (10.2 percent).

Send items for this column to tstieghorst@sun-sentinel.com or call 305-810-5008.